The fact that this book is a translation of a translation likely works against it, although I don't think that is its only problem. There were moments that drew me in, but mostly I was just bored (and that despite how grotesque and dramatic and bloody it is). I've read that Kadare uses his books to talk about life in Albania under communism, but buried in the text to avoid censorship. I could sense that here, but ultimately that meant the plot, characters, etc. were secondary to whatever else Kadare was attempting to say. Ultimately, the biggest downfall was that I couldn't become invested because the characters were completely flat, and character development is important to me as a reader. I'd still like to give Kadare another try. I read a few reviews stating that though the reviewer loves Kadare they didn't think this was his best, which gave me hope.